1) Coutinho slots in seamlessly at Liverpool

The headlines and the match-ball belonged to Luis Suárez at Wigan but the influence of Philippe Coutinho on Liverpool's commanding display cannot be overlooked. Still only 20, and making only his second start for the club since his £8.5m arrival from Internazionale in January, the "proper Brazilian" – as his team-mate and compatriot Lucas Leiva called him – proved exactly that with a wonderfully creative performance at the DW Stadium. His immediate understanding with Suárez, plus Daniel Sturridge on Coutinho's full debut against Swansea City, bodes well for Rodgers. "He is a young player with big experience and he is on the wave-length of the top players," the Liverpool manager said. "He has fitted in seamlessly because he is a wonderful technician and tactically he is very good. He is still not up to speed yet but you can see where he slots in. He is a player who can make the difference. He is clever with his passing and can make and score goals." Andy Hunter

2) A suitable Chelsea manager?

There is an assumption among many that a certain influential player at Chelsea will one day graduate to managing the club. He has served at Stamford Bridge for years, been a crucial part of their most successful era and regularly proved the strength of his courage and will to win. He has upbraided team-mates for sub-standard displays and encouraged coaches to be open to input from players. He has overcome a fractured skull to drive the team to further glory and won acclaim for his integrity as well as his ability not to knee opponents in the back on the sly and exclude himself from the greatest triumph in the club's history. He is Petr Cech and surely if Chelsea, in their wisdom, were ever to pluck a manager directly from the playing ranks, he would be a better choice than John Terry. Paul Doyle

3) Hoilett gets that spring feeling

Despite being one of the most promising young players in England, Junior Hoilett could well be relegated for the second successive season. That would be a shame because he is a talent, but so far it has not really worked out for him at Queens Park Rangers, although it has not really worked out for anyone for QPR, to be fair to him. However, given a chance against Southampton, Hoilett was excellent; he created Loïc Rémy's opener, he might have won a penalty in the second half and saw a goalbound shot blocked by Nathaniel Clyne. He has been linked with Arsenal and Tottenham in the past and it was good to see him playing with a spring in his step again. Jacob Steinberg

4) St Michael's gospel for the Swans

Huw Jenkins, Swansea's admirable chairman, has a fine record when it comes to selecting his managers [Roberto Martínez, Paulo Sousa, Brendan Rodgers and now Michael Laudrup] and says he is already planning for life after Laudrup. The great Dane is certain to move on to bigger and better things sooner or later but sounds likely to stay in south Wales for another year at least. He says: "Next season, playing in Europe, we will have more games but I still want to have one of the smaller squads because I think it is better for every player to be involved and to feel important." Joe Lovejoy

5) Clattenburg plays the right cards

A derby of any kind is always difficult to officiate. The blood boils, the crowds cry and it is rare that one will pass without a controversial incident. However, Mark Clattenburg's refereeing of the north London love-in managed to do just that on Sunday. He was consistently in the right place and he consistently made the right decisions, keeping all around him in check. His handling of the early card for Emmanuel Adebayor is the perfect example. The striker was late, high and reckless when taking down Aaron Ramsey with a challenge not dissimilar to the one that saw him sent off against the same opposition earlier in the season. Adebayor could have walked and could have had few complaints if he had. Instead Clattenburg sized up the situation and just booked him, successfully defusing a potentially tricky situation. It was an excellent and eminently sensible example of officiating that is too often missing from the top flight. Ian McCourt

6) Standing up to Ferguson

Sir Alex Ferguson should not be above everyone else when it comes to media duties. Other Premier League managers talk to the written press after every League game. Manchester United's manager does not. European fixtures are an exception – he likes to show off a positive side to foreign visitors – but generally he restricts his comments to broadcast rights holders and United's in-house TV station. Wonderful as so much about United most definitely is, the Premier League and the FA should not allow Ferguson to keep getting away with this. He is not used to people saying "no" to him but a tough line might just earn his grudging respect.

Roman Abramovich, for instance, is not used to being challenged either but Chelsea's owner quite possibly admires Rafael Benítez for standing up to him and the Stamford Bridge hierarchy over the interim manager tag at Middlesbrough last Wednesday. Instead of being pushed out of a hastily opened aircraft door as Chelsea's flight south took off from Durham Tees Valley airport Benítez's calculated, clearly pre-planned, gamble – most definitely not a rant – arguably paid off. He is still in a job ... and even dissenting Chelsea fans were possibly shamed into behaving a little better on Saturday. Similarly, if the game's hitherto craven authorities come down hard on Ferguson over his media obligations – say permanent touchline bans and being barred from visiting the dressing room at half-time until he relents – they may find themselves respected rather than knee-capped. Louise Taylor

7) Take-off time for fast finishers

Everton and Reading tend to get stronger when the finishing tape is in sight and they will need to replicate something like their late-season surges of recent seasons if they are to achieve goals of European football and Premier League survival respectively. Everton ended the 2011-12 campaign with five wins and four draws while they took 24 points from their final dozen outings two years ago. Second-bottom Reading were even more spectacular in their Championship days: this time last year they were six games into an astonishing sequence of 15 wins from 17 league games while two seasons back they were beginning an eight-match winning streak. Richard Gibson

8) Is Pulis running out of steam at Stoke?

Stoke's 1-0 home defeat by West Ham was their sixth reverse in eight games, and has increased the level of mumbling discontent at the Britannia Stadium. Relegation is still highly unlikely, and Pulis's achievement in turning Stoke into an established top-flight team is widely acknowledged, but his side are currently misfiring. Attackers such as Peter Crouch and Michael Kightly are failing to make a consistent impact and the fact that a previously out-of-sorts West Ham contained their threat is a cause for concern. It was perhaps no surprise that a Sam Allardyce side had their measure on Saturday. Tom Davies

9) O'Neill must learn a new tune

Martin O'Neill has always been a good talker and he is normally good to listen to. But it seems that hardly a game goes by nowadays when he is not complaining about a referee's decision where penalties are concerned. He was at it again on Saturday after the 2-2 draw with Fulham when two spot kicks were awarded, one to each side. O'Neill was intent on cursing his side's luck over another penalty 'missed' by the referee rather than cheering a point after three consecutive defeats. It is time for O'Neill to change the record and concentrate on removing luck from the equation to keep Sunderland clear of the danger zone. Rob Woodward

10) What is it with David Moyes and strikers?

Nikica Jelavic has not scored in his last 12 Premier League games for Everton – since his late winner against Tottenham on 9 December, in fact – and one goal at Cheltenham in the third round of the FA Cup is his only return this calendar year despite making such a stunning impact after arriving from Rangers in January 2012, with 11 goals from 16 games for his new club. Confidence is clearly low and the striker has never given up showing for the ball and trying but the longer the barren run goes on the more Everton fans will be wondering if they have already seen the best of their £5.5m striker in a royal blue shirt.

There is a long list of strikers signed by David Moyes who have excelled for a season or so only to begin running the channels and chasing down throw-ins and then slump to mediocrity soon after, Yakubu Ayegbeni being the last of them after scoring 21 club goals in his first season. After a dismal final two and a half years at Everton the Nigerian was offloaded to Blackburn for £1.5m where he scored an astonishing 17 goals from 30 league games in a team who were relegated from the Premier league. Before that there were Marcus Bent, who helped Everton to a fourth-place finish in 2004-05 after replacing Wayne Rooney, Louis Saha and even James Beattie, who one season managed 11 goals in an Everton shirt, hard as that seems to believe. Mark Tallentire